Cincinnati, OH Tornado, Aug 1969

Cincinnati (UPI) -- A tornado roared through several
suburbs of Cincinnati late Saturday night, injuring approximately 50 persons, and causing considerable damage.
The U.S. Weather Bureau reported a tornado in the northern portion at 7:20 p.m. and it then moved eastward. Another was reported at 7:10 p.m. east of the Dayton Airport, but no apparent damage was noted.
Officials said the communities of Reading and Madiera seemed to be the hardest hit.
About 30 persons were slightly injured when a tent collapsed at a church in Madiera and many others in the Reading area when the high winds hit several apartment complexes causing heavy damage.
A restaurant in the Reading area was nearly leveled and considerable damage was done to the gigantic Carousel Motel.
A small building was leveled at a used car dealership and several cars overturned in the nearby Lockland area.
All off-duty police in and around the communities and officers from the Hamilton County police department cordoned off the area to traffic.
Injured persons were taken to General and Our Lady of Mercy hospitals.
The winds also hit the Carthage area, halting activity at the Carthage Fair when four tents covering livestock were blown down.

Comments

My sister, grandmother and I were at the Carousel Inn that night while the rest of our extended family of parents, aunts, uncles and cousins were at a Red's game. We were eating dinner at a Frisch's Big Boy across the street when the sky turned that odd, tornado-sky shade of green and the lights started to flicker. Nan scooted us back to the hotel.

I pushed back the curtains covering the sliding glass doors of our room - which faced the pools - and watched in amazement as poolside furniture swirled through the air. It looked as if invisible people were "driving" the lounge chairs and the diving board was flapping like mad! The glass in the windows bulged. I have NO idea why it didn't explode, except to say I know there were angels close by that night.

At the baseball game, my dad noticed an uptick in "chatter" among people with two-way radios, and he also saw the pennants at the top of the stadium moving in different directions, each independent of the other.

He told my mom they needed to leave NOW - he knew something was wrong.

By the time they got near the Reading Road exit, the National Guard was there and all the roads were blocked.

My parents were under that tent. It was the St. Gertrude festival and my brother and I had just arrived. I was 11 years old and had walked to the festival. As soon as we arrived we were at the tent talking to my parents when it started to hail. We ran into the basement and after we came back out we saw all the damage. My parents were unharmed and there was a man who used his knife to cut people out of the tent. It was a horrible mess. Never forget it. Power lines down, small ferris wheel toppled over etc. Mothers and children were in the dark basement just calling for each other.